Struch savours taste of four-game cup of coffee
Dave Struch is quick on the draw when asked to discuss his NHL career — a four-game stint with the Calgary Flames in January of 1994.
“I’ve got to tell you the Bryan Trottier story,” the Regina Pats’ assistant coach and assistant general manager says, snapping the question out of the air, as exNHLers prepare to visit Regina for Saturday’s All-Star Celebrity Classic.
“We’re in Pittsburgh. Dave King is coaching the Flames and Guy Charron is the assistant coach. I’m stuck out there for a defensive-zone faceoff. Bryan Trottier is taking the draw against me.”
At the time, Trottier was winding down a future Hall of Fame career. Struch was playing in his third NHL game.
“Bryan Trottier wins the faceoff straight back and they get a shot on net,” Struch continues. “It’s covered and there’s a faceoff again. I’m sure I’m getting taken off. Dave King leaves me out there.
“Trottier cleanly wins another faceoff. Shot on net. The goalie freezes it. One more time. I should be off the ice, but Dave King leaves me out again.
“Clean win. The puck goes D -to-D. Shot on net. We weather the storm a bit and get the puck out. I get to the bench and sit down. I look over my shoulder and Dave King and Guy Charron are laughing.
“I’m devastated because I have been out there taking those faceoffs. I lost three clean ones. Dave King comes over and says, ‘Strucher, he’s a pretty good player. He has taken a few faceoffs in his time.’ Then he walks away.
“The players on the bench obviously had a pretty good laugh at me. It’s a story that I’ll never forget.”
To this day, Struch has exacting recollections of his abbreviated NHL stint, which concluded
Jan. 11, 1994, when the Flames blanked the visiting Quebec Nordiques 1-0.
The Nordiques’ roster included defenceman Curtis Leschyshyn, a fellow Saskatoon Blades alumnus.
And how’s this for a coincidence? Jake Leschyshyn — Curtis’s son — is in his third full season with the Pats.
Moreover, the elder Leschyshyn is also scheduled to play in the inaugural All- Star Celebrity Classic (3 p.m., Brandt Centre).
Oh, and one of the celebrity coaches will be … wait for it … Bryan Trottier!
“He and Garth Butcher were actually here a month back and we had them come in and talk to our players,” Struch says. “Actually, I told Bryan that story about the faceoffs. I said, ‘You beat me clean, three straight,’ and we had a good laugh about it.
“I said, ‘I know you’ve probably done that to a number of young punks, but this is what happened to me.’ ”